I’ve had the great fortune to get to know the always wonderful, Chef Eric Pateman of Edible BC quite well over the past few years.  His energy and passion for food and a healthy lifestyle are infectious!

If you haven’t been to his retail store on Granville Island, be sure to put it on the list of must visits when in Vancouver.  All the products sold are either grown and made in BC, or from points across Canada; with many being organically produced.  Eric and his team are thoroughly versed on the exciting culinary growth taking place here in particular, within British Columbia.  From small mom and pop operations to larger suppliers who are meeting the demands of a savvy consumer, this is a great spot to shop for your home or a gift. 

The recipe below is suitable for Celiacs and is absolutely yummy!  Plus Spot Prawns are readily available right now.  All of the ingredients listed are from Granville Island Market, however you should be able to locate them in your local community.

www.edible-britishcolumbia.com

BC SPOT PRAWN BISQUE (Serves  eight)

Pair with:  Sumac Ridge Stellar’s Jay Brut 2002

Ingredients

• Head and Bodies of 2 lbs of BC Spot Prawns (Seafood City)
• 1 Onion, Finely Chopped (Green Grocer)
• 2 Large Carrots, Roughly Chopped (Green Grocer)
• 4 Large Ripe Tomatoes, Roughly Chopped (Green Grocer)
• ¼ C Brandy (Liquor Store)
• 500 ml Whipping Cream (Milk Man)
• 2 Tbsp Lobster Oil (Edible BC)
• Dungeness Crab

Method

Place the prawn heads, onion, carrot, tomatoes and brandy in an 8L stock pot and cover with enough water to go approximately 4 inches above all the ingredients. The exact amount of water does not matter since you will be reducing this stock.

Bring the pot to a soft boil and decreasing the heat, simmer until the liquid is almost level with the ingredients.

Using a stick blender or traditional blender, puree the ingredients together and return to the pan and reduce again by half.

Remove the pan from the heat and strain the liquid through a very fine strainer twice and return to a clean saucepan.

Add the cream and return the pan to a low heat and reduce the liquid by half again.

Taste the soup and season if required, but most likely all the sweetness from the tomatoes and carrots, and the saltiness of the prawns will create an almost perfect taste.  Just before serving, garnish with the lobster oil and Dungeness crab meat.

Sit down and enjoy with family and friends!

But it’s not just the variety of religious institutions that makes this area-south of Blundell Road to Steveston Highway-a special attraction.

It’s the fact that there’s little more than fences that separate these faiths from around the globe. There’s a Jewish school, a Muslim school and a Christian school but none of the tension, animosity or clashes that’s seen in other parts of the world.

There’s the Vedic Cultural Centre, the India Cultural Centre’s Sikh Temple, the Az-Zaharaa Islamic Centre’s mosque, and the Ling Yen Mountain Temple, which sits just across the street from a church.

But the Highway to Heaven isn’t the only must-see religious place in Richmond.

There’s also the Nanaksar Gurdwara Gurusikh Temple on Westminster Highway-which is open daily to all visitors-and the International Buddhist Temple on Steveston Highway.

In 2007, Richmond’s Highway to Heaven was declared one of Canada’s top 50 wonders by the CBC.

It’s such a point of pride that the City of Richmond organizes spring and fall tours of the area for locals and tourists, dubbed the Temples of Faith Tour (see richmond.ca for more info).

“I think we should be very proud. Richmond…is a model of multiculturalism not only in B.C. but in all of Canada. The Highway to Heaven is a really great attribute to this community. We are very proud of that distinction,” said former Richmond Multicultural Concerns Society president Balwant Sanghera.

- 5.6 million kilograms of reinforcement metal bars

- 1.1 million cubic feet of concrete

- one million board feet of primarily pine beetle lumber

- 19,000 sheets of plywood for its roof

- 2,200 stone columns

- 170,000 cubic metres of sand for preloading

- seats 8,000 for the 2010 Olympics

- covers an area of 33,750 square metres

- will host 12 long-track speed skating events with 36 medals awarded

- has a 6.5 acre roof

- can accommodate four jetliners from wingtip to wingtip on its main floor

- cost $178 million to construct

- will become an international centre of excellence for sports and wellness after the Olympics are finished

- the main floor will offer hardwood courts, an indoor track and a skating sheet

Home to the second largest Asian community in North America, Richmond has more than 500 Asian restaurants and more opening every day.

Quality is high and fare ranges from the traditional to the modern.

Travelers from Hong Kong, Taiwan, Washington state, and B.C.’s interior already know that the food offered at Richmond’s cafes, bistros and dining rooms is consistent in overall quality and that the preparations are true to old and new tradition. The dishes, well-made and balanced in seasoning, or tsen (meaning properly executed on all levels), are luring visitors from Vancouver and beyond. Word is spreading. BBC and German film crews have done stories on Richmond and its culinary Asian diversity, while Bon Appetit magazine was also in town for an article.

In most western cities, there’s typically one type of Chinese restaurant, but in Richmond, there are restaurants specific to the four different corners of China and other Asian countries.

Northern food became known as Beijing dishes and uses wheat flour to make dumplings, stuffed breads, noodles, and steamed buns.

The Southern food, known as Cantonese, is vital to Chinese food with lots of rice, dainty light food, and a love of condiments such as Hoisin sauce and plum sauce.

Dim sum originated in Southern China and means “little dishes.” These tasty dishes generally come in bamboo steamers. Popular dishes include steamed pork bun, sticky rice and shrimp dumpling. There are hundreds of places to try in Richmond, but it’s best to go early and restaurants fill up at noon.

Western food is known as Sichuan (Szechuan), the place for flavour and home of hot and spicy Kung Pao.

Eastern food or Shanghai dishes uses lots of seafood in a variety of sweet, salty, sour, and fragrant.

Each of the four corners of China claims their food is the most satisfying eating. Undoubtedly, each is correct because each place offers distinct tastes.

One place to sample a lot of different Chinese food varieties in a hurry is the food court located on the second floor Richmond Public Market (8260 Westminster Hwy.). It features dozens of styles and restaurants.

China isn’t the only country to offer flavourful dishes. Taiwanese food requires lots of preparation. Marinated first, precooked, stir-fried and then deep-fried, using spice to give different flavours in one dish.

Alexandra Road, known unofficially as “Food Street,” serves up more than 50 restaurants within a two-block radius.

Some of Richmond’s earliest settlers were Japanese. There are many sushi restaurants in Richmond ranging from the all you can eat variety to more traditional fare.

Vietnamese restaurants are also both plentiful and popular, with noodle soup (pho) being the signature dish. It’s a steaming bowl of rice noodles served with meat (often thinly cut raw beef, which cooks in the soup) and a plate of condiments such as bean sprouts, Thai basil and lime to flavour the soup.

Speaking of Thai basil, the cuisine of that country is increasingly popular among diners. And there’s Indian and Korean eateries as well.

If your taste buds don’t like to leave the continent, don’t worry: major Canadian chain restaurants are well-represented in Richmond. And Mediterranean food, whether it’s Greek or Italian, is never in short supply either.

Most hotels have restaurants, some of which serve some impressive brunches and lunches.

Steveston is another popular restaurant destination. In the fishing village you can find anything from sandwich shops to seafood restaurants to fine dining. But it’s fish and chips that Steveston has the most of, ranging from eat-in locations to takeout spots.

When the world looks to sum up the 2010 Winter Olympic Games with a single photograph, chances are it will be of the Richmond Olympic Oval.

A venue as impressive outside as inside, the building cost $178 million to build and millions more to outfit inside and out.

And if there’s a single place to feel the power of the Olympics, it’s outside the dressing rooms inside the Richmond Olympic Oval.

Located on the lower level beyond a maze of rooms and hallways, the doors of the dressing rooms face a wide staircase. In 2010, athletes will exit the dressing rooms and head upstairs into what officials simply call “the big room.” Thousands of fans will cheer from bleachers surrounding a 400-metre speed skating track inside a cavernous space covered by a wood roof believed to be one of the largest clear spans on the continent.

Athletes will cross the ice, put their skates on and the races will begin. In all, 36 medals will be handed out in Richmond during the Games.

Those who don’t have tickets to long track events will still be able to experience much of what the building has to offer before 2010. Public skating and modern fitness facilities are open to members or drop-in users.

Perhaps the most coveted exercise bikes in the region overlook the activity floor, which is lit by floor-to-ceiling windows boasting views of the Fraser River and North Shore mountains.

The bikes are part of a 20,000 square-foot exercise room, one-third of which is filled with top-of-the-line equipment. The rest will open post-Games.

A specialty fitness studio with high-tech resistance equipment can train specific parts of the body-great for athletes recovering from injury. In the spinning and rowing room, visitors can tour the Thames or cycle the Alps with help from a video wall.

The oval also offers a host of other programs, from skating lessons to 30-minute lunchtime workouts. Basketball, badminton and futsal are offered on the infield hardwood courts. An indoor rowing tank is also scheduled to open soon.

When the Games leave town, so does the 400-metre speed skating track-unless a world cup event comes calling. In that case, the city can convert the facility floor back to accommodate skaters.

The oval track will be fully covered by hardwood courts, an indoor running track and two international-sized ice rinks.

“We’ve always said it’s more than just a speed skating facility for the Games,” said spokesman Ted Townsend. “We built for what this facility was going to be post-Games, it just so happens that it can accommodate speed skating for the Olympics.”

That planning impresses bean counters and pencil pushers around the world. But the biggest wow Richmond officials hear comes from the building’s aesthetics.

“Almost universally, wow, is the first impression people have. Just the sheer size and scale of it alone is impressive. Then when you start to look at the roof, it grabs a lot of attention. Then when you tell people the story about the roof, that it uses pine beetle wood, it just adds to the effect.”

Some of the building’s trim work has been milled from trees toppled on the site before construction.

Through it all the city has managed to work within the confines of its capital budget. It did, however, increase the budget by $23 million early in the process to accommodate a ground-level parking garage, which brought the oval’s main floor in line with the dyke, giving the building and its waterfront plaza the knock-out views.

The most comparable example of the oval grounds is perhaps Olympic Sculpture Park in Seattle, a gathering place where grass and gardens meet public art, hard concrete lines and the water.

Planners sought to make a statement at the entrance to the site. Buster Simpson was hired to design Skate Blades on the short span over the Hollybridge Canal, towering LED light polls designed to resemble a speed skater’s blades.

Few knew the canal even existed before the oval. It runs from the river into a light industrial neighbourhood that’s ready for redevelopment into a high-density downtown neighbourhood. The section of the canal adjoining the oval site will get special landscaping, highlighting Richmond’s water surroundings.

A roadside plaza now faces a bubbling pond fed by storm water running off the oval’s massive roof. A swirling red boardwalk meant to resemble a Chinese dragon takes visitors through the oval-side oasis, leading to the dramatic public art of Janet Echelman.

Echelman’s bold work is Water Sky Garden. It’s a feast for the senses. A pair of red, steel tubular circles the size of a helicopter landing pad are suspended by cables, allowing red nets to hang from them. The nets look large enough to bag a whale. Lights will shine up through the water garden into the artwork.

The building itself is clad in polycarbonate siding shaded in cascading blue hues to symbolize the river meeting the ocean.

“Polycarbonate siding is used quite commonly in Europe and elsewhere in the world, but it’s the first time that it’s been used in this area. The neat thing about it is it’s translucent, so it allows natural light to filter through, maximizing the use of natural light inside the building,” said Townsend.

Along with glass windows, the siding is pasted to three sides of the building. The north side is entirely glass.

From the outside, visitors will see the anti-doping laboratory for the Winter Olympics. It will transform into a sports medicine clinic post-Games. Parking is at the east end. Behind a row of storefronts, offices and child-minding space, 450 parking stalls are tucked inside.

Amid all the architectural eye candy is the front lobby. Three storeys of glass create a dramatic entrance for visitors, who will come in the form of media and officials during the Games, when spectators’ entrance will be shifted to the north plaza.

On the plaza, part of the view is obscured by the first building in the development planned by ASPAC, which owns and leases the land surrounding the oval. The building will serve as a sales centre for its condominiums before it becomes a restaurant.

There’s views here of Musqueam artist Susan Point’s motifs of heron, salmon and the river in what otherwise would simply be concrete gutters. The plaza steps down toward the top of the dyke to link in with the waterfront trail system. The steps double as seats and also serve as an amphitheatre.

It’s all an Olympic-sized shift from the grassy field that was here five years ago.;

It will also be home to the Ice Gate, a “megalithic ice art installation,” crafted by artist Gordon Halloran, and an exhibition of International Olympic Committee artifacts from the IOC Olympic Museum in Lausanne, Switzerland.;

Held at 12631 Vulcan Way, the market is open from 7 p.m. to midnight on Fridays and Saturdays, and from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. on Sundays and holidays. Info: 604-278-8000.

Opening Day is scheduled for May 15.

There’s a Filipino Festival planned for June 6, and a grand opening celebration scheduled for June 13.

A three-day Taste of Asia Festival is planned for July 3 to 5, while the month of July is themed around Taiwanese Agricultural Days.

There’s a children’s drawing contest and a singing contest in August.

Night markets have been a tradition in Richmond for nearly a decade, drawing hundreds of thousands of people to the city each year.;

It’s barely visible to motorists on Highway 91, but for anyone on Westminster Highway in East Richmond, it’s a religious beacon.

White bulbous domes stretch to the sky and five ornate gateways lead to two simple doors. Behind them is a source of inspiration for Richmond’s Sikh community.

The Nanaksar Gurdwara Gursikh Temple at 18691 Westminster Hwy. opened its doors to worshippers and the curious alike in the city’s first Doors Open event last year.

From places of worship to artist studios to museums to national historic sites, 31 venues participated, opening their doors to all visitors for free-no strings attached.

Doors to the Sikh temple have been open 24 hours a day since it opened in the early 1980s. During Doors Open, temple volunteers like Gursharan Brar help people-who don’t normally pass through the temple’s doors-to learn the truths of Sikhism.

Sikhism was founded over 500 years ago by Guru Nanak, and is based on his teachings and those of the nine Sikh gurus who followed him.

Most Sikhs come from the Punjab province of India, and the religion is ranked the fifth largest in the world. Sikhism preaches a message of devotion and remembrance of God at all times, honest living, quality of mankind, being generous to the less fortunate and serving others.

Inside the Westminster Highway temple, the scripture of Sikhism, the Guru Granth Sahib, is continuously read in the inner shrine-every hour of every day. Volunteers take two-hour shifts, some keep regular reading schedules, others volunteer to read the Punjabi script as needed.

Its 1,430 pages-unchanged poetic writings of the 10 gurus-take 48 hours to read inside the inner shrine, whose walls are adorned with scripture and a symbol meaning “One God.”

So important to worshippers is the continuous reading, another volunteer stands by the reader to call for help in the event of a health emergency and reading stops.

“To have this continuity is a very important part of the religion. We believe there is a lot of power in prayer, and to do that you need a community. You can’t do it yourself,” said Brar, a Vancouver pharmacist who immigrated here from Kenya over 20 years ago.

Brar regularly leads tours of the temple for high school students, teaching them about the religion’s history, its customs and rituals.

“I think they leave with a really, really good understanding. We’ve had people come up and say, ‘I’ve got a friend who’s a Sikh, and now I know why they wear a turban,’” she said.

“I really make an effort to make them understand that drug use and terrorism are bad, they’re forbidden in the Sikh scriptures. If we fall prey to them, then we’re not living as true Sikhs.”

She also seeks to dispel myths that surround a once public debate that turned violent in Surrey around the use of tables and chairs in a temple’s dining hall.

The Richmond temple has a dining hall, and most people use tables and chairs. But if worshippers would rather sit on the floor, no one takes issue with it, said Brar, who describes the temple as “moderate” and stays out of politics.

Food is a huge part of Sikhism. Free vegetarian meals are served all day. Elderly women volunteer in the mornings to cook huge pots of lentil soup, large batches of curried vegetables, rice and chapati. Fruit is prepared for dessert.

A few hundred people are fed each day. On busy days, like Sundays, thousands of people come to worship and to eat meals, cooked in pots so large they take three men to lift.

Eating together, Brar says, is not only social, it’s healing-and so is understanding.;